Naptime woes....

I am so, so frustrated with our nap situation.

About 1.5-2 months ago, the boys were fighting naps and taking two catnaps (40 min. each), so I decided to try and drop them to one nap. Well, about two days in, they came down with a terrible cold and were totally exhausted, so we went back to two naps. Almost right after they got over that cold, they got another one.

Last week, they started completely refusing their morning nap. It started exactly a week ago. So last Monday (almost a week), I changed them to one nap. They get us up at 6am (sometimes 6:30), have lunch at 11am, and go down for nap around 11:45-noon. They have been napping until about 1:30pm and then they go to bed around 7:15pm.

The thing is, they have been SO fussy for the last week. Around 10am, you can tell they are really tired, and by 11:30, they are whining, crying, etc. The problem is, if I put them down sooner, they will wake sooner and need to go to bed sooner BUT they are early risers. Past experience with them tells me that if I put them down before 7:15pm for bed, they will be up 5-5:30am, which is NOT cool! :lazy:

Oh, and they are also teething their molars, so that doesn't help with the fussiness.

So, I don't know what to do. Should I try to stick it out another week or so and see if they adjust, or should I try going back to two naps? But then, they fight their morning nap, so I'm not sure what to do there, either. I guess I could make both of their naps later and put them to bed later?? Argh. I just don't know right now!! Has anyone been through this???

I would appreciate any and all advice!

 

Stick with the one nap for now. It takes a good solid 2 weeks of anything for them to get used to the transition. They're obviously ready for one nap a day, so just be consistent and go for it!

I would put them down to bed earlier anyway and then just set a wake up time of 6 or 6:30 and don't go in until then. It might take a few days for them to get used to the idea, but they'll figure out that wake up time is 6:30. At worst they'll learn to wake up and play in their cribs until it's time to get out of bed.

 

Stick with it. I had one daughter that was ready for the 1 nap/day switch and one that was not. I forced the one who was tired to stay awake and it was definately worth it in the end. It took a few weeks for them to completely adjust. The biggest pain was if I needed to do an errand and they would fall asleep in the car at 9am and then there went the 12 noon nap! I stuck close to home and was fairly strict and now it is great. There will always be colds and teething that mess it up. Just try to get back on track and they will get back into the routine too.

Our schedule is 7am wake up
12:30 nap (lasting 1 1/2 -2 hr)
7pm nighttime

But when we first started the one nap they would only make it until 11:00, then 11:30, then 12. As the weeks went by I stretched them out until we got to where we are now.

 

Thanks, ladies. I guess I will keep sticking with it then and see how it goes. I think they are ready for one nap, but they're just so darn cranky it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong, KWIM?

Anyone else have other experiences?

 

I agree with both Jen and Cacy. My other suggestion might be to do morning quiet time for them...maybe put a pillow and a blanket on the floor on your living room (or main house area) and just give them some downtime in the morning (but not a nap). Molars can really mess sleep and schedules up!
I know when we did the one nap transition it took a couple of weeks for our kids to transition. Even though they were completely ready for it, it still took them a few weeks to adjust and during that time I did put them to bed early until they were on a consistent one nap schedule (in our case, going longer then 45 minutes).

 

One idea to help with the cranky phase before lunch: While we were transitioning from 2 napy to 1 nap I always went outside with them before lunch - garden, playground, park. Fresh air, running around and hopefully the sunlight helped us over the cranky hour before lunch, they were a lot happier than they were indoors and I find this also works well when we are out and about and need to push naptime or bedtime back a bit. But you need to make sure that you do not give them the oppotunity to fall asleep on the way to the park (or whereever you are going) or back and thus mess up the schedule. This is why we usually end up in the garden or just taking a walk around the neighborhood.
GL!

 

The quiet time is a good idea - I will give that a try. The good thing is, they have been sleeping for about 90 minutes, which is an excellent nap for them. For many months, a normal day has been two 45-min. naps, so I am happy they went straight to the 90 min. nap and have done it all week.

Unfortunately it's too cold here right now to go outside most days still. I could take them in the car to the mall or something, but they would definitely fall asleep in the car on the way back. I've been resorting to letting them watch a video (Barney or Elmo, both of which they love) before lunch to keep them going. I hate to use TV that way, but it really helps keep them going. If it was a month or so from now, we probably could do the outside thing - we have a nice park just down the street, but right now, it's still pretty cold for that. (And I've got a nasty cold myself and don't want to be out in the cold either).